Why Kareem Abdul Jabbar thinks soccer is un-American

[Mosiah]

http://www.mediaite.com/online/karee...merican-ethos/

Has this been discussed already? Let me know so I can delete.

[Islandman]

For one thing, there’s a lot of movement but not much action.

Of all the moronic reasons that anti-football people use to discredit the beautiful game, this one is by far the most ludicrous.


You want to talk about movement and not much action? OK then...

According to a Wall Street Journal study of four recent broadcasts, and similar estimates by researchers, the average amount of time the ball is in play on the field during an NFL game is about 11 minutes.

So what do the networks do with the other 174 minutes in a typical broadcast? Not surprisingly, commercials take up about an hour. As many as 75 minutes, or about 60% of the total air time, excluding commercials, is spent on shots of players huddling, standing at the line of scrimmage or just generally milling about between snaps.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/...02852055561406

[Jangle]

There is some truth to parts of his article.

"But Abdul-Jabbar attributes those high numbers to the World Cup’s “rarity factor.” On a consistent basis, Major League Soccer games average just 174,000 viewers compared to millions for the NBA and NFL. But why is that the case?"

However, the average American sport fan is just a waggonist. There is no real passion for the sport, save for a few. One of the real problem in American sports is that the cost to attend these games, any sport, is prohibitive for the ordinary fan. My next door neighbor, who is a VP for two hospitals (in other words, him have money), and I were having a conversation last Saturday. I was out 7:30 in the morning cutting my lawn. When I finished, he came up to the fence and said, "Hey Jangle, the wife and I heard you cutting the lawn so early, so we know that it's because you want to go watch your soccer later. Yeah we got you pegged!" So we got into a conversation about the WC and he asked me who I was supporting. I told him that I wanted to see the USA go far because it helped Jamaica. The conversation got around to baseball. He told me that he took his daughter and her boyfriend to a Yankees game during the week. He had good seats which were close to the pitch. The tickets cost $230 each, a hotdog was around $9 not to mention the cost of a beer. His daughter went to the gift shop to purchase 2 shirts at $65 each. The game ended with the Yankees winning 6 -4, which was a high-scoring match. He said he was bored out of his head. The kicker - he used to play baseball himself!

[Lazie]

You know I read the article by Ann seeking attention Coulter and decided I wouldn't repost it anywhere. I see you want to start a discussion ... well it simple, there are those of us that love the beautiful game and then there are those who will say anything to convince themselves not to watch something they cannot claim to be the best in the world.

[Don1]

Kareem is correct in his analysis of why Americans don't "feel" football at their emotional core. His reasoning is solid.

He omitted a couple important factors however:

1. Americans will never embrace a game they're second rate at and are subject to being thrashed by nations they regard as non-entities on the global stage e.g. Ghana, Argentina, Colombia, Belgium etc. Their ego-maniacal national implulses will not tolerate that

2. Americans prefer games with regular and extended breaks that can be used for the media and advertising circus they adore.... they need time for the hype factor during games... the game itself is not sufficient to hold their attention

Unfortunately those two conditions are not easily fixable... if at all

[Paul Marin]

There is some truth to parts of his article.

"But Abdul-Jabbar attributes those high numbers to the World Cup’s “rarity factor.” On a consistent basis, Major League Soccer games average just 174,000 viewers compared to millions for the NBA and NFL. But why is that the case?"

The MLS is the wrong league numbers to use. The Prem outstretches it BY FAR. He is also ignoring the trend; baseball's numbers in terms of viewership and participation is declining, while soccer's is increasing. There is nothing they can do...football is here to stay; dem nuh like it, but ah so it go!

[Lazie]

Of all the moronic reasons that anti-football people use to discredit the beautiful game, this one is by far the most ludicrous.


You want to talk about movement and not much action? OK then...



http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/...02852055561406

Thank you for posting that link Islandman! Oh Lord ... these NFL fans are in for it. 11 minutes of action? Less than 1/2 time in a football game.

[Paul Marin]

Kareem is correct in his analysis of why Americans don't "feel" football at their emotional core. His reasoning is solid.

He omitted a couple important factors however:

1. Americans will never embrace a game they're second rate at and are subject to being beaten by nations they regard as nonentites on the global stage

2. Americans prefer games with regular and extended breaks that can be used for the media and advertising circus they adore.... they need time for the hype factor during games... the game itself is not sufficient to hold their attention

Unfortunately those two conditions are not easily fixable... if at all

Interesting. I don't agree with #1 but only because times are changing. We live in a more global environment so using history as an indicator for the future may not be appropriate. Take the MLS vs. the Prem - Americans watch the latter far more than the former. As for #2, that is an astute observation that I believe holds tremendous merit - they are unable to engage, that's why they need jumbotrons to tell them when to cheer. Unbelievable.

[USAF]

We are 1st rate in baseball & (ice) hockey???

[Don1]

ok boss... it's conceivable that I'm wrong on #1..... remotely conceivable yes... but the theoretical possibility does exist

[Don1]

We are 1st rate in baseball & (ice) hockey???

Absolutely.

In ice hockey the USA is up there with the best.... Canada, Russia, mebbe Norway

Baseball (also basketball and American football) were always VERY interesting to me from a psycho-social point of view... and the national perception goes waaaaaaaaayyy beyond being merely "first rate"

Those games are played among American cities (ok a couple Canadian places are sometimes included )
What's super interesting is that the winners of those local competitions are "officially" crowned as "world champions"!!! Mi spleen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Who does that sort of thing?? Who would just accept that mass delusion without question??

Now dats ego-mania on some wikid steriods puppa

[Islandman]

Don1, you make it sound like Americans are virtually a different species of humans! I do not believe that, they are merely products of their social environment just like the rest of us.

As Paul Marin has suggested, globalization is already fixing some of these peculiarities about American citizens. They are becoming FORCED to be more aware that the rest of the world exists in a way they they did not have to even 20 years ago. This will continue.

As I have mentioned earlier, these anti-soccer rants are MUCH less prevalent this time around than they have been in the past. The one that has received the most circulation is from an ultra-conservative attention whore who makes her living selling books to racists. Not exactly the crowd that the beautiful game needs to attract anyway, there are enough of those in Europe.

I still hear the occasional ignorant comment like "How can so many people from those poor countries afford to go to Brazil?" Again, that is more a product of what they see than who they are.

I think it is going to be very difficult for the professional game to be BIG in the USA, but MLS has the potential to get to somewhere around the standard of the South American and second tier European leagues, with a solid following of recent immigrants and more global minded Americans.

Does it really matter that much if Joe Sixpack in Alabama prefers to watch his Crimson Tide play the Gators?

[Assasin]

Kareem and others can hold onto their 1970s view.
Americans are into soccer and it is no stopping it.

Anybody think is only foreign born Americans growing, then think again.

Again people might not follow the MLS and European soccer but they know at a youth level how important the game is. They know how important is it at the youth level. Many parents taking their kids to the field and playing active role. That number is growing leaps and bound and with that comes acceptance and love for the game. They get involved.

It is only a few commentators and analysts who have a problem. All you needed to do is go to neigbourhood Pizza stores and bars and see the crowd to watch some games. A little less than college football, and NFL but very good numbers. I have a co-worker who stumbled on the last European Championship and now he is hooked on the world cup and he is asking why wasn't he watching it before. Whether they like it or not soccer is here to stay, and even young football oriented players using soccer to gain feet balance, so they are now playing it at a young age. Just look at the amount of new fields building and complexes and the amount of enrollment and you don't spend all weekend for 5 or 6 years watching a sport and don't develop some appreciation. Don't tell me about passion as yes you have some passion in England but many people are not into the games and watching it as some of us do.

[Don1]

Yes Americans like everyone else are products of their environment.... but the American environment does cause ego-mania to flourish to the point of delusion sometimes.

Yes America is definitely exceptional...but I've learned that when an entity feels motivated to constantly proclaim the obvious... they're some curious issues at play which bear watching

I'm not saying high self-esteem is all bad but anything overly excessive is dangerous imho

[Paul Marin]

Absolutely.

In ice hockey the USA is up there with the best.... Canada, Russia, mebbe Norway

Baseball (also basketball and American football) were always VERY interesting to me from a psycho-social point of view... and the national perception goes waaaaaaaaayyy beyond being merely "first rate"

Those games are played among American cities (ok a couple Canadian places are sometimes included )
What's super interesting is that the winners of those local competitions are "officially" crowned as "world champions"!!! Mi spleen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now dats ego-mania on some wikid steriods puppa

World Champions is funny to raht...I remember back in the Cosmos era, the announcer (in a friendly against some European team (can't remember who)) introducing the other team e.g. AC Milan and the "World Champion New York Cosmos!!!" ... wooooooooooooooiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeee...only in America they say... LOL!!!